KUALA LUMPUR • New daily cases of Covid-19 surged in Negeri Sembilan state yesterday with 374 cases reported in the last 24 hours, making it the state with the second highest number of infections after Sabah.

The Borneo state of Sabah, which has been the epicentre of the disease in Malaysia for most of the last two months, remained at the No. 1 spot with 391 new cases, the Health Ministry said.

The surge in Negeri Sembilan - located to the south of the Klang Valley - mostly came from existing clusters, with four cases from close contact and other Covid-19 screenings, said the ministry's director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah.

The Klang Valley - Malaysia's most-densely populated area comprising Selangor and the federal territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya - logged 217 cases yesterday. The country's commercial and industrial heart with some seven million people reported 563 cases on Friday, higher than Sabah's 556 cases.

The apparent race to log a higher number of cases comes amid the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic in Malaysia.

Nine of Malaysia's 13 states and its three federal territories - Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan - are currently under stricter movement curbs, called a conditional movement control order (CMCO).

Malaysia had relaxed curbs on economic and social activities - under the so-called recovery MCO - in June, after three months of restrictions had reduced daily infections to low double-digits.

The CMCO bars inter-district travel except for work and emergency purposes, with mass gatherings banned and the public repeatedly advised through the media to remain at home. The police have put up roadblocks along major roads.

The country yesterday reported a total of 1,114 new cases - the 14th consecutive day where daily cases have gone above 800.

The new cases bring Malaysia's total since the disease has been tracked in the country to 46,209.

There were two new fatalities yesterday, raising the number of deaths to 306.